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LET’S DO BETTER 


Other Books by Munro Leaf 


A WAR-TIME HANDBOOK FOR YOUNG AMERICANS 
ROBERT FRANCIS WEATHERBEE 
MANNERS CAN BE FUN 
GRAMMAR CAN BE FUN 
SAFETY CAN BE FUN 
HEALTH CAN BE FUN 
JOHN HENRY DAVIS 
FAIR PLAY 
NOODLE 

THE WATCHBIRDS 
MORE WATCHBIRDS 
FLY AWAY, WATCHBIRD 
3 AND 30 WATCHBIRDS 


GORDON THE GOAT 



/ \ 

ku/ Munro Leaf 


J. B. tIPPINCOTT COMPANY • PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK 


I 4-5 








His 

M 


COPYRIGHT, 1 945, BY MUNRO LEAF 

All rights reserved. 

No part of this book may be reproduced without the written 
permission of the publisher. 


Printed in the United States of America 


coKBia® ^ sw * 




SEP-71945 


This book has been produced in full compliance with all Government Regulations 
for the conservation of paper, metal and other essential materials. 


When our ancestors 
lived 




I 


* 






* 









6 


in dark, 




dank caves 





they 


i 


were 


very 


rough 

i. 


on each other. 



8 



9 








Everybody 



was 

\ / 


scared* 


10 


If there wasn’t enough food to go 
around, somebody starved. 

And if there wasn’t enough shelter 
or clothing to keep everybody 
warm, somebody froze or got sick 
and died. 

So it was everybody for himself or 
herself just to stay alive. 

The strong and the clever people 
either beat up the others or tricked 
them into being dead or out of 
the way. 


11 


Some wise people 


decided that this was a very stupid 


way to go on living, always being 


scared of each other. 



12 



The very simple idea came 


to them that 

if some of them got together 

and worked together 
they could feed themselves, clothe 

themselves 
and share what shelter there 
was or that could be built. 


13 


( 5 >£> 



So they lived together as 


tribes, gangs, groups 


or anything 


14 



you want to call a lot of people 


w ho live together. 



15 




It made sense* 











s 








Naturally, some of them could do 


certain things better than others 
could* 


One man might be a very good 
house builder, 


18 


but he might be 




19 






the clumsiest, noisiest hunter in 
the tribe* The sensible thing to 
do with him was to let him build 


houses, while somebody else did 
the hunting. They all needed 
both houses and food. 


20 










As the tribes grew bigger more 
people did different things* 
Some were very good at 
making things to eat 
grow out of 
the ground, 



22 




or raising cows, goats, chickens 
or horses. 

They became farmers. 


23 


Some could make 
bows and arrows 
or 

pots and pans 


or 




clothes 

and 

blankets— 

they became manufacturers. 



25 


Others were good 


building boats 

i 


and sailing them 




26 



They became ship builders 


and sailors. 


27 









Still, most of the men of 


the tribe who could 


fight at all 


had to be 


soldiers* 


28 



was just this: 


29 





There were always other tribes 
living somewhere not far away, 

r 



and if they didn’t have as good 
food or shelter or clothing as others 
they would try to take them. 
That always wound up in a fight. 
If the tribes were big enough, then 
the fights were big enough to be 
battles 


30 


and the whole mess was 


called a 

* <; 



In these wars—in any wars—somebody 
always got hurt. 


Some were killed, homes got smashed and 
the things that people had worked hard 
for were taken away from them. That 
made ’most everybody unhappy. 


32 


No matter which side won or lost, there 


were always a lot of people on both sides 


who were made very miserable. 



33 


The worst of it was that if one tribe or gang 
or nation decided that war was foolish it 
didn’t dare to go on living sensibly by just 
helping each other and trusting other tribes 
to do the same* Sooner or later another 
bunch would jump them and beat them 
up—no matter how right they might 
be. 


34 


The sensible and the happy way of living 


just wouldn’t work—unless everybody felt 


the same way about it. That is just as true 


today as it ever was in the days of our 


ancestors. 



35 





Now the people who have always had the 


most to do with how we live anywhere in 


the world have been the 


Thinkers . 


36 


? 



37 







These Thinkers can be divided into three 


different kinds and two of the three kinds 


can be good for us all. 


The third kind is always getting us into 


trouble. 


38 








39 


The first kind of Thinker and probably 
the most important, is the Leader* 



Leaders are strong people. Not always 
strong in their muscles, but strong in their 
minds and in their power to get other people 
to do things the way that the Leader thinks 
is best for them. 


40 












Good Leaders are always trying to think 
up ways for people to get along together 
better. 

After all, rules and ways for getting along 
together are all that 
GOVERNMENT 
really is. 



41 




Not all tribes picked their leaders the same 
way 



and we still don’t, now that we, the 
people of the world, are divided up into 
countries or nations. 


42 



Some of us pick our leaders by asking nearly 
everybody who be or she thinks should 
be the one. The one the most people want 



in this country, and we call that way, 
Democracy. 


43 




Some other nations do it differently* 



They let members of just one family be the 
leaders and call them kings or queens. 


44 











Some of those countries also let nearly 


everybody pick other leaders to help the 


king or queen do the governing or leading. 




45 



Still other countries let the strongest men 
lead them without doing any picking or 
choosing of them, or making them be 
members of any particular family. That 
can work out just as well as any other way 
if they happen to get good leaders, but it’s 
just too bad if they don’t. 


46 



47 



There is no country in the world that can 
say their way of choosing Leaders is the 
only good way. 



The thing that is important is that the 
Leaders be good ones, no matter how they 
are picked. 


48 





Besides the leaders who govern us, the 
people who come next in making us a 
strong or a weak nation are the second kind 
of Thinkers. 

These are the Makers and Doers. 

? o ? 






7 . ? 


49 




They live in all countries and 
ways to make things and new 


50 



they are forever thinking up new 
ways to do things* 


51 


/ 



We call them 


inventors, scientists, 





52 








farmers, merchants, 


. Pj 

m—fl 

jJ HT - \,m> 




/l \ 1 

/ 

I EK> 



lawyers, workers, 
builders, bankers, 
and hundreds of other 



UW 


names, but no matter what we call them, 
they are the Makers and Doers who by 
their 
thinking 
affect the 
way we 
all live. 




53 



















Among these Thinkers there is a kind of 
people we call Teachers, 


These Teachers, many of them Makers and 
Doers themselves, pass on to others the 
ways they have learned to make and do 
things. 


54 



The Doctor who finds a new way to kill 


germs and keep people alive is one Thinker 


we are glad to have in the world. 



55 




Those who find ways to make cows give 


more milk or hens to lay more eggs, or land 


to raise more corn and wheat or rice; 



56 





they are some of the ones who help us. 


So are the Thinkers who find new ways to 
dig coal faster and easier, 



57 



to find oil, to fly airplanes better and 
farther; to keep us cool when it’s too 
hot, and warm when it’s too cold. 


People who think of things like this are 
the people who make big 
and little countries in 
the world great and 
strong, when those 
countries also 
have wise 
and good 
Leaders. 



58 








The more we have 



of them in a country, and the more they 
teach the good ways to make and do 
things to many people, the better that 



59 


If this is so, then who are these other 


Thinkers that get us into trouble? What 


is this third kind of Thinker that makes 


such a mess of things for the rest of us? 











61 



They are the 


Selfish Cheaters, 


They are the persons who mess things up, 
who try to push and pull the people of the 
world around while they are thinking only 
of themselves. 


62 


V 



Unfortunately they too live in every 

country* 


63 







Some are rich 



and some are poor. 




young, 


Some are strong 
and some are weak, 



tall, short, 


clever or stupid* 


dark, light, fat or skinny, 



They often look like 
anybody else but what makes them bad 
for us and all the world is that more than 
anything else 


65 


THEY ARE SELFISH 


If they can, they make other people do 
things their way and they don’t care how 
many others are hurt or made unhappy 
—just so long as they have things the way 
they want them. 


66 





67 

/ 



When some people are like that, they may 


not hurt many others, often just their own 


families and a few who know them well. 



Others fool enough people sometimes to 
grow strong and powerful, and they 
become bad Leaders, Then they make 
trouble for a lot of people, often for whole 
countries and every now and then for 
everybody in the world. 

69 


They lead the Makers and Doers into 


thinking of new things and ways to hurt 


others instead of helping them. 


Then even the good and decent people of 


the world who don’t want to, have to do 


the same just to save their own lives. 


70 











That’s when we find ourselves in the same 
fix our ancestors were thousands of years 



when everybody was scared. 

All the fine things men and women have 


done to help each other, the great cities we 


have built, our inventions, our medicines, 


72 


our farms, our schools, our factories, radios, 
trains, automobiles, telephones, and 
airplanes can’t help us to lose this fear that 
brings unhappiness to millions all over the 
world. 


We fight wars that most of the people of 
the world don’t want to fight. 



73 



If the people of every country will be very 
careful about who their leaders are, and if 
we all see to it that the Selfish Cheaters 



never become powerful, then we can live 
together in a peaceful world* 


74 




All Thinkers —the Leaders, the Mahers 
and Doers and even the Cheaters are all 
boys and girls before they are men and 
women. 




What we do and how we Think when 

we are young is as important as it ever is 
when we are older. 


75 


If we want this world to be a better place, 



we are the ones who can make if so. 


76 


In all the years that have passed, our 


ancestors have not yet learned to live 
together so that people all over the world 
do not have to be afraid of each other. 

People in many countries still live in fear 

that shells and bombs and bullets may drive 

* 

them back again to living in 


77 


dark, dank 

caves to save their lives. 




It could happen to any of us. 

*i 4) 0 


78 






That is still a stupid and a dismal way to live* 


79 




Let’s be Thinkers all over the world. 


Strong, Kind and Unselfish 
Thinkers 
and 


LET'S 

DO 

BETTER 





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